


self care

by perrysghost



Category: Newsies (1992), Newsies - All Media Types, Newsies!: the Musical - Fierstein/Menken
Genre: Fluff, Gay Newsies, M/M, Modern AU, Newsies - Freeform, Selfcare, its cute, its really cute okay, modern ralbert, newsies au, newsies fic, nonbinary albert, pure fluff, ralbert, ralbert au, ralbert fanfic, they do facemasks
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-05-15
Updated: 2020-05-15
Packaged: 2021-03-02 18:41:51
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,315
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24041506
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/perrysghost/pseuds/perrysghost
Summary: this is a quick thing i wrote at like 3am but it’s modern day ralbert being cute as fuck and doing face masks and it’s just so sOFT
Relationships: Albert DaSilva/Racetrack Higgins
Comments: 2
Kudos: 16





	self care

With an exasperated sigh, Albert slammed their laptop shut as they struggled to write more than the first page of their English essay. They moved the grey laptop off from their lap and pushed it away from the centre of the living room.

''I'll never get this done'' they grumbled, looking up as they heard the gentle patter of their boyfriend's feet approaching the carpeted area where they sat cross-legged on the floor.

''When's it due?''  
''First thing Monday'' Albert whispered.  
''You can finish it later'' Race began, ''I've got a surprise for you.''  
Albert raised their head to look up at their boyfriend, a small smile appearing on their lips.  
''Oh?'' Albert began, ''and what might that be?''

After a brief pause, Race handed them a bundle of what appeared to be clothing and told them to get changed into it.Albert stared down at the clothes Race had placed in their hands, soon realising that it was a set of red and white patterned pyjamas that matched the ones their boyfriend was wearing. Albert grinned at Race and stood up, pressing a gentle kiss to his lips as they turned to leave the room.

Once he heard the bedroom door closing, Race jumped over the sofa and headed over to the cabinet by the door. After opening the door and pulling out two boxes, each with a name written on top, he picked them up and carried them through to the living room, placing them down on the table before making his way towards the kitchen to get Albert's favourite snacks.  
Race was making two mugs of hot chocolate when he heard Albert approach him. Before he could turn around to greet them, he felt Albert's arms wrap around his waist as they rested their head on his shoulder.

''Babe, you didn't have to do this.'' Albert began, ''it does smell delicious though'' they added before pressing a gentle kiss on Race's jaw and smiling into his shoulder.  
Race laughed a little before telling Albert to go wait for him in the living room. He picked up a bowl full of buttered popcorn and the two hot drinks, a bag of gummy sweets held between his teeth, and made his way through to the room where Albert was waiting. He paused in the doorway for a brief moment as he smiled to himself, taking a mental picture of Albert sat cross-legged on the floor smiling at the boxes, their eyes full of adoration. Albert looked up at Race and grinned.

''What's in here?'' they pointed to the boxes on the floor in front of them.  
''We,'' Race began as he set the food down on the table in front of them, ''are having a spa day.''  
''A what?'' they raised their eyebrows

''You know... face masks and stuff...''  
Race sheepishly replied, waiting for a response.  
Albert removed the lid of the box labelled with their name, smiling as they noticed that Race had doodled little moons and stars all around the letters. They placed the lid on the floor and stared at the contents; picking up a facemask. They scrunched up their nose as they read the packaging.

''Deep-sea cleansing mud mask... what even is this?''

Race's eyes lit up as he began to tell Albert every possible piece of information about the mask and how good it would be for his skin.

‘‘It had really good Amazon reviews- I just had to buy it!'' he concluded, grinning excitedly at Albert a small grimace appearing on their face.  
''Racer you know I trust you, but is this a good idea?''  
''Honey how do you think my skin gets this perfect?'' Race questioned as he raised an eyebrow and gestured to his face, which was in fact flawless.  
''Okay fine.'' Albert gave in to their boyfriend's pleading eyes, ''How do I put it on?''

Race's grin widened as he grabbed the tub from Albert’s hands and shuffled closer to them. He produced a small grey headband from his pocket and ran his hands through Albert’s red locks, pushing a few stray strands out of their face and holding them in place with the band. He hummed softly to himself before commenting on their hair.

‘’You’re not going to be able to see if you let your hair grows any longer. We need to get you to the hairdressers, I can book you in for next week at some point if you wanted?’’

Albert hummed a response, nodding their head slightly as they admired Race’s piercing blue eyes.

‘’I love you Racer,’’ they began ‘’with all my heart.’’

Race stopped opening the tub and lifted his gaze to meet Albert’s eyes, his mouth hanging slightly open. He looked as though he was going to cry. He felt like he was going to cry. Knowing Race, he probably would cry. They hadn’t said ‘i love you’ yet, but Race couldn’t be happier that it had happened at this moment. The person he was madly in love with had just told him they loved him. Realising he had been stuck in a trance, Race shook himself out of it and smiled at Albert so bright it could light up all of New York City.

A pause.

‘’I love you too.’’

The two just sat there, lovingly staring into each other's eyes and grinning. To most people this moment may have looked ordinary; like it was nothing special. This was not the case for Race and Albert. They had been madly in love with each other since they first met in second grade, even though they had only realised what their feelings meant two years prior. A year after they had discovered their feelings for each other, on Christmas Eve, they admitted how they felt. That night was the beginning of what the pair would without a doubt describe as the best year of their lives so far. To them, nothing could ever compare to the adventures and fun they’d had together; the kisses they shared and endless movie nights they would have, wrapped up in blankets on the sofa cuddling until the sun began to rise. There was no doubt about the fact that Race and Albert were hopelessly in love.

Still smiling, Race looked down at the facemask as he shuffled even closer to the redhead and unscrewed the lid of the small tub. He giggled softly as he noticed a mix of confusion and disgust form on Albert’s face. They had clearly not imagined the mast to look like grey slime. They flinched as Race went to apply it to their face, but after they saw the pleading look in Race’s eyes they simply couldn’t say no.

‘’Come here babe,’’ Race began, trying to hold Albert’s head still so he could start applying the face mask, ‘’give me your face.’’ He pouted.

Albert didn’t give a response. They just sighed and gave in, relaxing their body and playfully glaring at their boyfriend. They didn’t really know what they expected the mask to feel like, so the cold mush coming into contact with their face was unexpected. Race let out a giggle as he took notice of Albert’s confused reaction.

‘’Is that okay?’’  
‘’It’s weird, but strangely relaxing. I’m not sure I like the texture much though.’’  
‘’You’ll get used to it. It is really good for your skin though.’’  
‘’okay, but let’s just get this over and done with,’’ Albert replied, still not completely comfortable with the feeling of the mask against their skin.  
‘’You get to do mine after.’’ Race added, softly pressing the brush against their nose.  
‘’Boop!’’ he grinned.

Race continued to playfully annoy Albert until their face was covered in the face mask, booping their nose every so often. Albert couldn’t decide if they were annoyed at Race or not. On one hand, Race was being a little annoying, but then again, when wasn’t he? On the other hand, Albert could never be mad at Race, their love for him overpowering any other emotion present.  
Albert smiled at Race and took the mask from his hands as they adjusted their position, moving closer to their boyfriend before mimicking his previous actions by squishing the brush onto Race’s nose.

‘’Boop!’’ they giggled.  
Race let out a hearty laugh as he realised what was going on. He loved moments like this where Albert let their guard down and was just so carefree as though they were ten again. Race just stared at Albert as he applied the mask, laughing along to the terrible jokes they were telling him.  
Ten minutes and a lot of mess later, the couple both had their faces covered with the mask, alongside their hands, arms and a considerable amount of the floor that surrounded them. The two stood up and stared at each other, and then the mess they had made. They looked back up at each other, bursting into fits of giggles as soon as their eyes met. Race could have watched Albert laughing like this for a thousand years; their smile was brightening up the room and their red hair almost glowed as the light hit it. Albert was beautiful. And Race had them all to himself. He felt like the luckiest man alive.

The two spent a few minutes cleaning up the mess, taking small breaks to press gentle kisses to each other's hands as they had realised that kissing with facemasks on wasn’t the best idea.  
Albert wandered over to the bathroom, holding out their hands as to prevent any of the face mask residue from getting on the furniture. They pushed the door open with their foot and flicked the light switch with their elbow. After struggling to get the tap to work for a few moments, they finally felt cold water hit their rather warm hands and started to rub them with sap in an attempt to clean off the mask. As they were doing this, they studied their appearance in the mirror. Race had been right; they did need to cut their hair. It was far too long.

Race entered the bathroom in search of Albert, only to catch them lost in thought. He walked up to them, gently resting his hand on their shoulder.

‘’Hey, you okay?’’ he whispered softly.  
‘’Oh, yeah I just zoned out for a moment, sorry. I’ll be through in a second.’’ They replied, shaking their head slightly as they shut off the tap and moved to dry their hands.  
‘’You sure?’’ he asked, not wanting to push too much, but still wanting to make sure nothing was troubling them.  
‘’Honest.’’ They replied, making sure Race believed them.

Albert moved to wrap their arms around their boyfriend, engulfing him in a loving embrace. Race stood still for a brief moment before tightly snaking his arms around their waist, resting his head on Albert’s shoulder. The hug lasted no longer than thirty seconds; it wasn’t much, but it was much needed by both of them.

‘’How about we go watch a movie?’’ Albert suggested to the shorter boy, moving so he could look down at him.  
‘’Can we watch Hercules?’’ the boy asked, his eyes lighting up.  
‘’of course we can, Racer.’’ They began, quickly adding ‘’We can watch whatever you want.’’  
Race didn't even hesitate before agreeing and quietly thanking Albert.  
‘’We should probably wash ur masks off now, just in case we fall asleep.’’ Race stated, removing his arms from around Albert’s waist and heading over to the sink, picking up a towel on the way.  
‘’Yeah, okay.’’ They responded, ‘’But you're going to have to show me how to. You know I'm clueless when it comes to all this skincare stuff.’’  
Race let out a giggle, running the tap and wetting the corner of the towel.  
‘’Come here.’’ He laughed, turning to face Albert as he lifted the towel to their face, gently rubbing his cheek as the mask began to flake off.  
The next few minutes were full of quiet conversations about how their days had been and what their weekend plans would be. Albert’s face was now clean and they moved their hands to touch their cheeks as Race washed off his mask.  
‘’Oh. My. God.’’ Albert exclaimed, ‘’My face is so fucking soft.’’ A look of surprise appeared on their face as Race started to laugh.

Shaking his head and without answering, Race dragged Albert by the arm through into the living room, frantically grabbing blankets as he switched off the lights. The glow from the TV was the only thing illuminating the room which meant that Race had to be twice as careful when making his way over to the sofa carrying a bundle of blankets. He flopped down next to Albert and threw a blanket over them, shuffling around to get comfortable and snuggling into their chest.

Albert picked up the remote and found the movie, putting it on and wrapping their arms around their boyfriend as they both settled down to watch the film. Every so often something exciting would happen and Albert could see Race’s eyes light up at the excitement. Another thing they noticed was that he mouthed the words to each song without fault, a result of having watched Hercules religiously since his ninth birthday when he first got the DVD. For Albert, there was nothing better than moments like these with the people they loved.

As the movie was reaching the end, Albert glanced down at Race, who was laid almost on top of him with their legs intertwined, only to see he had fallen asleep. He looked so peaceful with his golden curls falling in front of his eyes. He looked so peaceful and that was all that mattered to Albert; they just wanted Race to be happy.

Albert truly was in love with Race and he wouldn’t have it any other way.

**Author's Note:**

> hi so yeah let me know if you enjoyed reading this. its my first fic so be nice :) follow me on twitter @albdasllva


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